Given my belief of what scriptures teach, I do not think I will be present for the Great Tribulation, assuming it were to happen within the span of my natural life. I believe the Bible teaches that the Church proper, that being all of those whose faith is real and biblical and is a saving faith, will be removed from the face of the earth prior to the Tribulation. This is commonly referred to as The Rapture. My beliefs, and therefore this post, will be from the pre-tributlation pre-millenial point of view. What this means in simple terms is that the church (as defined above) will be taken away before the tribulation, the tribulation will follow and after the tribulation, Christ will return to earth for a thousand-year reign. There is a lot of disagreement as to what all of these end-times scriptures mean, but people I respect interpret it this way, so I'm sticking with it. I would not mind being proven wrong by actual events, and there is a good chance it will happen after I've already been long gone. People have been looking for the return of Christ for the last 2,000 years, so what is one more lifetime to see it fulfilled?
My intention in writing this is not to inform in the sense of explaining about the Tribulation as a whole, or the Great Tribulation as a subset of the Tribulation. My intention is to give hope to anyone who was not raptured and has been left behind to endure the Tribulation. I believe God has not closed the book yet, and although it will be difficult, those that repent and believe in faith can still be saved during the Tribulation. "Saved" in this sense means brought into God's family and saved from eternal punishment, which is the post-death post-judgement existence for all outside God's salvation.
What I will now do is list some statements about the Tribulation, not in any firm or fast order and support those with verses from the Bible, my authority and foundation for all I will say.
Matthew 24:36-41:
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.This is from a passage, commonly known as "The Olivet Discourse" in which Jesus tells of things that will happen in the end times. Read the entire chapter. It gives a good picture of some of the things that will happen then and will begin with the Rapture.
My first suggestion is that you humble yourself, realizing that it is your sin and your rebellion against God that separates you from Him in the first place. Realizing and admitting you are a sinner, you should also acknowledge that God, wishing that none should perish without Him, made a way of forgiveness. This is through his son, Jesus, who paid the price required for our forgiveness when he died on the cross. This is the only way. God has said so. Jesus was...
This--all of this--is true. Amidst the events of the Tribulation, when many of the prophecies of the Bible will become real events, you can hopefully see the evidences that prove it. Those who refuse to see the truth will pay the same penalty God has set aside for Satan and his followers. So, assuming you believe and seek for God's deliverance of the things to come, here are some suggestions for surviving the Tribulation:
...made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:7-11)
1. Get right with God - Deal with what separates you from God, your Creator: your sin. Confess your sins and your rebellion and beg for God's forgiveness and mercy. The Bible tells us:
"...If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Don't wait. Every moment you wait--every second you put it off--takes you closer to a time when you will no longer have the opportunity and your judgement for living a life of rebellion and disbelief will be at hand.
2. Separate yourself from everyone else. - The Tribulation, aside from a time during which God will pour out his judgement and wrath on the unbelieving world, is ultimately a time in which God will redeem his chosen ones from the nation of Israel. They will acknowledge the Messiah, or at least some of them will, and will turn to Jesus and embrace him as their salvation. Many of them will survive by seeking refuge in the deserts outside Jerusalem (read Revelation 12:13-17. The "woman" here symbolizes those Israelites, the "male child" is Jesus, born out of the Jewish nation). There will be such a refuge that will save a number of Israelites, plus perhaps other such refuges that will do the same for others converted during the Tribulation. Find yourself such a refuge, wherever you are, and prepare to remain there. Pray that God will guide you to such a place.
3. Refuse to take the "Mark of the Beast". - This all sounds very science-fictiony, but is also prophesied in Revelation 13.
4. Listen carefully to voices claiming to represent God or Christ. - False Christs will abound. They will serve no other purpose other than to lead people astray. However, God will send two supernatural witnesses (Revelation 11), plus three angelic witnesses (Revelation 14:6-13). The third angel has a message of specific importance to those wanting to survive the Tribulation: "A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus."
5. Remain patient and endure until the end. - God has promised to save those who endure until the end, as it says in verse 13 above: "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus." I guarantee you it will be hard, perhaps more difficult than anything any human has experienced. Yet it is far better to suffer for a season--even if the suffering leads to death--than to suffer an unending torment for all eternity.
So there you are. God has prepared a way for those who remain into the Tribulation. It won't be an easy way, but it is a way He has prepared. It is also the last chance you will have. Read the Bible. It is God's word, sent to communicate His will to us. You have ignored it up until now, but don't ignore it any longer.
Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. (Revelation 13:11-18)The Mark of the Beast will identify those aligned with the Antichrist (the "Beast"), those who have bended their knee to worship and follow him. These people will be judged for this and will not be saved from the wrath that is to come further into the last half of the Tribulation, that is "The Great Tribulation". The actual mark could take any form, but will most likely be a modern form that will both identify loyalty to the Antichrist and will be necessary to make any kind of financial transactions. It has been theorized that it may be in the form of a universal identifier that will link to your accounts and replace cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards and any other form of receiving or making payments for services or products. Think a tattooed bar code, an embedded chip or some other unique identifier on the forehead or right hand. Refusing the mark will put a person in a very small minority, a minority certain to be maligned and vilified, perhaps even put to death, which is also a good reason to be separated from the rest of society in some type of refuge.
4. Listen carefully to voices claiming to represent God or Christ. - False Christs will abound. They will serve no other purpose other than to lead people astray. However, God will send two supernatural witnesses (Revelation 11), plus three angelic witnesses (Revelation 14:6-13). The third angel has a message of specific importance to those wanting to survive the Tribulation: "A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus."
5. Remain patient and endure until the end. - God has promised to save those who endure until the end, as it says in verse 13 above: "This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus." I guarantee you it will be hard, perhaps more difficult than anything any human has experienced. Yet it is far better to suffer for a season--even if the suffering leads to death--than to suffer an unending torment for all eternity.
So there you are. God has prepared a way for those who remain into the Tribulation. It won't be an easy way, but it is a way He has prepared. It is also the last chance you will have. Read the Bible. It is God's word, sent to communicate His will to us. You have ignored it up until now, but don't ignore it any longer.
